Forgive?
by Starr6800
Summary: My first fanfic! Gwen returns to Camelot, but Arthur is unsure of whether he can trust her. Set as a sort of alternate ending to series 4.
1. Home Sweet Home

_**Forgive?**_

_**Chapter One**_

Gwen opened the door and looked around. Her home was a little dusty and cobwebby, but a good thorough cleaning would sort it out. From behind her, Arthur spoke

"Agravaine wanted me to sell it, but somehow…I couldn't. I guess I always hoped that you'd come back to me. And now you have"

Gwen turned to face him.

"I'm just so happy to be back here. Back with you"

"Merlin said we'd find each other again." Arthur told her

"He's wiser than you give him credit for." And then Gwen did what she'd wanted to do since she first saw him in Merlin's mother's house: she leaned in and kissed him. And as their lips met she remembered how happy she had been when she was with him, how that had been the best time or her life. She remembered knowing every day that Arthur loved her, and that they had each other no matter what. She remembered woodland strolls, love filled embraces and mesmerising gazes. She remembered love.

But all too soon Arthur was gently pulling away. Gwen removed her arms from where they had somehow become wrapped around his neck and took a deep breath to steady herself.

"I should be going" Arthur murmured

"Yes…I suppose you should." Gwen agreed reluctantly.

"Goodnight, Guinevere" Arthur whispered, and with a kiss to her cheek he was gone into the night.

Gwen softly closed the door behind him and danced across the room to her bed. She collapsed upon it and, exhausted, fell asleep immediately. Gwen slept better than she had done since she left Camelot, her dreams full of happiness, love and joy.


	2. Bad Hair Day

_**Forgive?**_

_**Chapter Two**_

_Knock, knock._

Gwen stirred slightly.

_Knock, knock._

Gwen's eyelids fluttered open.

_Knock, knock._

Gwen stood up and stretched.

_Knock, knock._

"Guinevere? It's me, Arthur"

Gwen started.

"Arthur?" she yelped

"Is everything okay?"

"Yes, yes! I'm fine thank you! Just give me a moment, please!" Gwen began to panic.

"Alright…" Arthur sounded a little disgruntled.

Gwen rushed to the mirror on the wall and wiped off the thin layer of dust on it.

"Oh no!" she whispered

Her hair was sticking up all over the place! It looked like she had a bird's nest on her head. Gwen glanced around the room, but it was pointless. She's lost all of her original possessions when Helios attacked, and the clothes, hairbrush, shoes and food that Merlin's mother had given to her were all left in Ealdor. All she owned were the clothes she was wearing, her house and the table, bed and mirror in it. Arthur would probably help her but she couldn't exactly ask him for a hairbrush – although he was vain enough to surely have one, bless him!

"Guinevere? Is something wrong?" Arthur now sounded concerned

"No, no! I'm fine, my lord!" Gwen squeaked

She looked around once more, and then she spotted it! A flowery blue scarf lay crumpled under the bed. She dived for it, picked it up and shook it out. A lot of dust and a few bugs fell off it, but apart from that it was fine. She swiftly wrapped it around her hair and looked back into the mirror.

"Well it's not perfect, but it'll have to do." She muttered grimly.

**oOo**

Arthur raised his hand to knock _one last time _and nearly punched Guinevere in the face as she suddenly wrenched the door open. He stumbled back slightly in shock.

"Whoaa…sorry, Guinevere." He apologised

"It's fine!" she sang

"You're here. What _took _you so long?" he exclaimed

"Oh, I was just…finishing what I was doing!"

Arthur wasn't convinced. "And that was…?"

"Um…I was cleaning! My house. It's dusty. You know, because I haven't been in it, so it's dusty, and I was cleaning it, because it was dusty and…yes. Cleaning." Guinevere explained stumblingly.

"Righhht…" Arthur was sure she was hiding something, but he didn't know why she'd lie to him. He decided to put it out of his mind for now. "Come on, then!" he began to lead her down the street.

"Where are we going?" Guinevere asked him.

"Wait and see." Arthur said mysteriously.

_**Thank you to all the lovely people who have reviewed and done story/author alert! In the next few chapters I'm going to do some from Merlin's point of view as well as Arthur and Gwen's. And by the way I am in NO WAY insulting Gwen/Angel Coulby's hair, I'm just saying that she couldn't brush it because she had no brush, clothes etc. **_


	3. Dungeons and Picnics

_**Forgive?**_

_**Chapter Three**_

Merlin looked down for the next task on the great long list of things to do that Arthur had given him – the usual chores like polishing his boots and cleaning his chambers were on it, but these were followed by ridiculous tasks like _dusting_ the castle battlements and mending the most _minute _rip at the bottom of his cloak. When he had asked why, Arthur had said

"Because you're an interfering fool, Merlin." _An interfering fool? _Well if he hadn't ever "interfered" then Arthur would've been dead _years _ago! His "interfering" was _saving Arthur's life! _Merlin didn't know what had gotten into him today. He had been almost _nice _lately. Well he had been nice, but only when he was a simpleton.

"What?" Merlin muttered to himself "the dungeons? _The dungeons?" _The list read:

_17. Clean the castle dungeons_

Dungeons weren't supposed to be clean! That wasn't the _point! _They were supposed to be horrible, not luxurious! Merlin stomped off to the dungeons in the terrible mood.

**oOo**

"Here we are!" Arthur announced. He looked around the patch of woods he had brought Guinevere too. There was a stream gurgling nearby, and some wildflowers grew around them. But the grass wasn't very green… "Do you like it?" He asked, a little nervously.

"It's lovely!" Guinevere responded brightly. Arthur sighed in relief. He began to sit down. Oh no! He should've had Merlin bring cushions…now what? He decided to apologise.

"I'm so sorry that I don't have any blankets or cushions." And food! Why hadn't he thought of that? They could've had a picnic!

"Stop worrying, Arthur. I'm fine." Guinevere responded, gracefully settling down next to him. She turned to look at him expectantly. Arthur opened his mouth to speak but nothing came out. He was lost in her deep brown gaze. A gaze that- "Arthur?" Arthur jerked back into the real world.

"Oh! I'm so sorry, Guinevere!" He couldn't believe he was being so idiotic. Not only was he making a fool of himself, but he was failing to contain his feelings for a woman who _had betrayed him. _

_Arthur Pendragon, pull yourself together! _He thought to himself _Stop acting like a love-sick fool, you came here for a reason. You are far too weak when it comes to Guinevere. _

He began to speak "Guinevere…I've brought you here to talk. I love you with all my heart, but there are…complications."

_**Again thanks to reviewers and story/author alert people. I really appreciate it !**_


	4. In love

_**Forgive?**_

_**Chapter Four**_

Merlin stood back to survey his work. The dungeon was so clean it was sparkling! No, really – it was sparkling; There was something silver glinting in the corner. Lying on the floor was a dusty silver bangle. It had obviously been there for quite some time, covered by the dirt in the dungeon. Merlin picked it up and brushed it off to examine it.

It didn't seem to bear any significance, so he slipped it into his pocket and forgot about it.

**oOo**

"Gaius, could I do necromancy?" Merlin asked Gaius as soon as he walked through the door.

"Necromancy? Why would you want to do that?"

"Why d'you think? To bring someone back to life!" Merlin exclaimed

"Who?" asked Gaius.

_Who? Well isn't it obvious? _Merlin thought _Who else would be more deserving of resurrection than kind, brave, noble Lancelot? Who else could I possibly be thinking of?_

"Lancelot, you clotpole!" Merlin said, impatiently

"Why Lancelot?" Gaius sounded incredulous

"Because Lancelot was kind, brave, noble, handsome-" Merlin began

"_Handsome?" _

"Well of course! His dark, tousled hair…his smooth, flawless skin…his soft, luscious lips…his deep, dark eyes…"

Merlin couldn't contain himself any longer. "Gaius, I'm in love with Lancelot!" he burst out

"In-in love?" Gaius stuttered

"YES! I LOVE LANCELOT!" Merlin cried, jumping up onto the table. As he did so, something fell from his pocket and clattered to the floor. Gaius bent down and picked it up.

"Wait…did I just say that I love Lancelot?" Merlin muttered. Yes, he had been…infatuated with Lancelot. Why would that be? What had come over him? "I don't! I don't love him…I don't know why I said that…I just…"

"I believe that this bangle in your pocket had a love spell on it. Merlin, I think we know why Gwen betrayed Arthur…"

**oOo**

"Guinevere…I've brought you here to talk. I love you with all my heart, but there are…complications." Arthur said, hesitantly.

Gwen promptly came crashing back down to earth. After their kiss last night, she had assumed that everything would go back to how it had been before. How could she have been so naïve? Arthur couldn't just forgive her like that, not after what she'd done!

"Arthur, I am _so _sorry. I cannot ever expect you to forgive me. My betrayal was…was…the worst thing I have ever done. And I shall regret it for the rest of my life. For years to come I will look back on that moment and ask myself why I did it. 'Til the day I die I will not forget how much we had, and how I ruined it all with that one kiss."

"No, you are wrong. I _can_ forgive you. And I _so _want to forgive you. It will not be easy, and it will take time. But, Guinevere…" he took her hand in both of his and peered into her face, his beautiful blue eyes seeking an answer in her warm brown ones. But Gwen couldn't meet his gaze knowing how much she had hurt him. She looked away, into the trees.

"Guinevere, I have told you this before. I meant it then. I mean it now. I will always love you…

Gwen was on the verge of tears. He was being so kind, so sweet, while she deserved none of it. She continued to avoid his eyes, staring into the trees. But her eyes were becoming wet, and now all she could see was a blur of green, brown, red and blue.

"I always _have _loved you_."_

Wait a second…red and blue, in the woods? Gwen blinked and her vision cleared. There was a figure running through the woods. A figure in a blue shirt with a red neckerchief. A figure that looked remarkably like…

"_Merlin?" _Gwen exclaimed incredulously.

"I-I'm sorry?"

"Look, over there. It's Merlin!" Gwen pointed at the rapidly approaching Merlin.

"_Mer_lin! Just _what _is he doing here?" Arthur muttered, standing up. "MERLIN!" he roared thunderously.

_**Sorry this chapter took so long, but I wasn't sure where to take it next., as I could've taken it in one of two directions: have Merlin deduct that the bracelet was enchanted using skill and knowledge, or have him find out by becoming enchanted himself. I thought the second would be funnier, so I chose it. Hope it works! Thanks for reading, reviewing etc. Chapter 5 is on it's way!**_


	5. The Happily Ever After

_**Forgive?**_

_**Chapter Five**_

"MERLIN!" Arthur roared thunderously

"Arthur…I found…bracelet with…spell by…Lancelot…he was a…shade not Gwen's …fault" Merlin panted

"STOP GIBBERING, you PATHETIC excuse for a man! Igave you a list of chores to do – SO WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING HERE? GUINEVERE AND I ARE TRYING TO GET SOME PRIVACY! WE DON'T NEED BUMBERING FOOLS LIKE YOU INTERRUPTING US!" Arthur bellowed

_Perfect! _Merlin thought to himself _I've come here to rescue their relationship, but Arthur is too busy shouting at me to listen._

"Sire…I was cleaning…bracelet on floor…in dungeons" Merlin tried

"SPEAK NORMALLY!" Arthur barked

"Ran all the…way from Camelot…tired…" Merlin puffed

"Arthur" Gwen cut in "Let him catch his breath before you start shouting at him. He probably has a perfectly good explanation for his presence, so don't get angry until you have a valid reason for it."

"Thanks" Merlin gasped gratefully

"He's drunk, most likely" Arthur grumbled. Gwen blinked at him. "I bet he went to the tavern and hasn't done a single – "

"I can talk now" Merlin interjected. Arthur glared at him.

"Then talk." He snapped.

"Arthur!" Gwen admonished "Merlin, take as much time as you need."

"So I was cleaning the dungeons, and –"

"I'm sorry – you were cleaning the dungeons?" Gwen exclaimed

"Arthur told me to" Merlin explained. Gwen glanced at Arthur suspiciously "So I was cleaning the dungeons" Merlin continued "When I found this bracelet on the floor" Merlin held up the tarnished silver bangle. Gwen gasped. "Recognise it?" Merlin asked

"Lancelot gave it to me…" Gwen breathed

"It's enchanted. Gwen, when you kissed Lancelot, it wasn't your fault – you were under a spell"

**oOo**

Gwen gazed into Arthur's sapphire blue eyes. Merlin was gone, with orders to destroy the bracelet immediately. Now it was just the two of them, and the realization that she had done nothing wrong.

"Guinevere…I have a question to ask you" Arthur murmured "But first, there's one more thing I need to know. What were you doing this morning?" Gwen stared at him. This was so completely random and off topic – she had _thought _that he was about to propose! "You took a long time. What were you hiding from me?" Arthur pressed anxiously

"Oh, you silly, paranoid thing! Do you think I wake up looking perfect every morning?" Gwen giggled

Arthur blushed. "I was doing my hair!" Gwen told him

"Oh, well…in that case…Guinevere, will you marry me?"

**THE END**

_**So I'm a total ditz. I wrote this chapter MONTHS ago, a few days after chapter four. I added this chapter into my doc manager, but it never made it into the actual story, probably because I went off to dinner and forgot about it or something. The only reason I've found out now is 'cos I'm writing a new story and I came on to upload the first chapter of that, but checked to see if **_**Forgive **_**had any more reviews before doing so. Basically, I'm a total scatterbrain and I'm very, very, VERY sorry! So, onto the next story – it's kind of like this one is a prologue to it. It's set about 6 months later, and it's going to be split into 3 parts. Each part will be about as long as **_**Forgive, **_**so it **__**is **__**gonna take a while. BUT I WILL FINISH IT! I PROMISE! And I'll be more alert while I'm uploading the chapters this time! So thank you lovely people reading this (if anyone has actually been patient and lovely enough to come back to it - I wouldn't blame you if you hadn't!) and thank you to reviewers and story/author alerters. Gosh, I sound like I think I'm a celebrity or something.**_

_**Lots of love from Starsandsparkles**_


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